Larry Hogan’s Sleaze-bag Campaign

I know a little about Maryland politics because I live in Maryland. Suffice it to say that I am actually proud of our United States Senators: Jamie Raskin, a Democrat and acclaimed Constitutional scholar; Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who stood tall against Trump and his insurrectionists; and Ben Cardin, a Democrat who is retiring. The candidates for his office are rising-star Democrat Angela Alsobrooks and former governor Republican Larry Hogan, who managed to complete his term as governor without being arrested; however, while governor, Mr. Hogan had a physical altercation with a subordinate, who claimed that Mr. Hogan then fired him and had the police hound him out of the state. The subordinate filed lawsuits, but would later be shot dead by Maryland State Troopers out of their jurisdiction and under highly questionable circumstances (he was unarmed). That was the end of lawsuits. I always wondered if Larry Hogan had the man murdered …but the issue died away.

We are having this election now because Senator Cardin announced his retirement. Mitch McConnell asked Larry to run for the office to preserve Republican control of the Senate. Judging from the timing, I take it Larry Hogan was not Mitch’s first choice, but he promised Larry unlimited money for his campaign, which seems to be based mainly on a lie that his opponent is a tax cheat and that he will stand up to the Republicans — the ones who paid for his campaign? He will stand up to Republicans like himself? Really?

Hogan’s television advertisements (about three-six per hour on the networks) claim that Ms Alsobrooks is a tax cheat based on reporting by the New York Times. According to Hogan’s imagining of the New York Times, she took deductions she was not qualified for. Funny thing is that a search of the New York Times turns up no such reporting whatsoever. I repeat that I can find no such reporting …but here: Try it for yourself at New York Times. The search terms I used were “Angela Alsobrooks” and “Angela Alsobrooks taxes.” Stories, yes; but tax evasion? Nope. Hogan is lying. Try your own terms and please let me know if you find something I couldn’t — I couldn’t find such a fable anywhere. I’m suggesting that Hogan’s entire campaign is built on easily disprovable lies. A couple of damning indicators are:
1. The New York Times never reported such a story as he claims.
2. How does Larry Hogan get information about an individual’s taxes? Is that legal? Presidents are supposed to publish their taxes, not Senators.
3. Ms Alsobrooks alleged tax issues are the entirety of Mr. Hogan’s campaign: he has no other policy issues — that’s all he’s got.
4. The last time I looked at the law books, it was a felony to threaten someone with adverse tax reporting to the IRS. Has Mr. Hogan crossed a legal line?

At any rate, Angela Alsobrooks will be an excellent Senator. I have already voted for her!